A widely used technique for wireless communication is code division multiple access (CDMA) signal modulation. In a CDMA system, multiple communication signals are simultaneously transmitted between base stations and wireless communication devices (WCDs) over a spread spectrum radio-frequency (RF) environment. The signals are subject to conditions present within the RF environment between a base station and a WCD.
Receivers within WCDs are typically designed to handle worst case scenario RF environment conditions. These high performance receivers are designed in accordance with communication standards that define the worst case scenario conditions. In this way, WCDs are capable of receiving unfavorable signals from base stations and accurately demodulating the received signals. For example, the unfavorable signals may include weak signals, noisy signals, and signals degraded by strong jammers.
Although high performance receivers perform effectively in undesirable RF environment conditions, the receivers consume large amounts of power. Conserving power in a mobile WCD is a paramount concern, as the WCD is typically powered by limited battery resources. In addition, high performance receivers rarely encounter RF conditions that are as unfavorable as those defined by the communication standards. This compromises the design of the receiver, which must simultaneously handle the rare worst case scenario conditions and also be economical in power consumption.